


unusualities

by CreativeTomato



Category: One Piece
Genre: ASL Brothers, Adorable Monkey D. Luffy, Akuma no Mi | Devil Fruit, Alive Sabo (One Piece), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Character Death Fix, Depression, Dorks in Love, Everyone Needs A Hug, Explicit Language, F/M, Falling In Love, Family, Family Feels, Family Reunions, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Food, Friendship, Haki (One Piece), Healing, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Lana Del Rey References, Love, Music, Nakamaship, Non-Consensual Hugging, Oblivious Monkey D. Luffy, One Big Happy Family, One Piece Spoilers, Original Akuma no Mi | Devil Fruit, Original Character(s), Politics, Portgas D. Ace Lives, Portgas D. Ace Needs a Hug, Possessive Behavior, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Time Skip, Protective Older Brothers, Protectiveness, Reincarnation, Relationship(s), Reunions, Revolutionaries, Romance, Sad, Self-Doubt, Self-Hatred, Self-Insert, Slavery, Slaves, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Smut, Song Lyrics, Spoilers, Swearing, Tags May Change, Tenryuubito | Celestial Dragons | World Nobles, The Author Regrets Nothing, Trauma, Triggers, Trust, Trust Issues, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unhealthy Relationships, Violence, a lot of swearing, reiki
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:48:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27525652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreativeTomato/pseuds/CreativeTomato
Summary: "She was an Angel craving chaos. He was a demon seeking peace."CURRENTLY UNDER REVISIONChapter 1 - updatedChapter 2 - updatedChapter 3 - updatedChapter 4 - updatedChapter 5 -Chapter 6 -Chapter 7 -If you want to receive any updates and stuff please consider following my one piece tumblr blog!fire-loving-siren.tumblr.comOr if you want to read cute littly snipptes of Ace and an unidentified OC to pass the time as you wait please visit my December Writing Prompts One Shots
Relationships: Im (One Piece)/Original Female Characters, Monkey D. Dragon/Original Character(s), Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, OC & OC, Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, Portgas D. Ace/Original Female Character(s), Silvers Rayleigh/Shakky
Comments: 60
Kudos: 137





	1. rebirth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being reborn is a hassle, isn't it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the first chapter is finished and I won't edit it anymore. At least I don't think I will. I also don't have a beta reader for this story, so I apologize for any mistakes I did leave behind.

**unusualities**

**rebirth**

_“For the first time in my life I tasted death, and death tasted bitter, for death is birth, is fear and dread of some terrible renewal.”_ _―_ _Hermann Hesse_

She had never been afraid of death. 

Never. 

There was no use in being afraid of something that was a part of life, a constant, a continuity no one could change when there were so many things to be afraid of. And there were many things she was afraid of. Not of death, not with how prone she had been to accidents and near-death-experiences. Nearly dying because of her appendix breaking; that one time a car ran her over or that one car accident where she had been sitting in the backseat of the car (swearing she had met God or at least met a God-like being, maybe Death personified); cursing her to a life of being traumatized and never being able to learn how to drive a car. Yes, all these near-death-experiences had taken away any fear she felt towards death.

However! There were undoubtedly many things she was afraid of. Spiders, for starters, and then afraid of the city traffic and driving a car. She was also afraid of people, being cursed with social anxiety, and then her biggest fear of being a failure (which had made her a perfectionist, which… just great). She was afraid of pain and torture, too, and she bruised easily. So, what she was afraid of in particular was the way her death could be like. Her favourite way to die was dying in ones sleep, and it had been her wish to die in a peaceful slumber. Any other way would be too painful. And people were so much scarier than death.

There had been instances in her life when she had wanted to end it on her own, her anxiety building up to a depression which in turn had become uncontrollable until she was thinking about suicide. But she had been a coward, too afraid of bodily pain. It wasn’t because of her family or her friends, no, it wasn’t that they were holding her back – in contrary, they were partly the reason for her depression. They may have claimed they loved her but she knew it was all lies – and it wasn’t the depression talking, her mother being a narc, her stepfather never accepting her, her brothers ignoring her, and her friends leaving her one by one. No, she had never ended her life because of some sentimental notion. Her family would grieve? Good, at least in that way she’d be able to feel the love that had never been shown. Her friends would miss her? Which friends? The ones who only came to her when they wanted something? Neighbors then, and work colleagues – as if. The other students? No, not one of them would care about her death. She simply had been afraid of dying _painfully_. Yet, there was a difference between pain from an outer force and pain she inflicted on herself. Being suicidal was a thing that went hand in hand with self-harm – at least it had been like this for her.

Her aunt had killed herself, hang herself from the ceiling in the tiny apartment she had shared with her husband and her sons – good-for-nothing-relatives that only took and took and took until there was nothing left, only a shell of a once beautiful woman who had ended it because life had become too painful and her existence one of infinite heartache. She had, at some point, in her long life ache, considered hanging herself – taking the same path her aunt had taken - but only for a few seconds, before letting the idea go while shaking her head. Then, when she had been twenty-one, studying abroad and trying to be a good student – which she wasn’t, had never been, undiagnosed ADHD at that point in her life – she had felt so unhappy, so full of grief she had started to sleep with a knife. Which was only the peak of the iceberg. It had started with neglecting herself, her health, her hygiene, everything. Then she had stopped doing schoolwork, letting her projects just be, days filled with either tears or hollowness. Years later, when she thought back to those days she only remembered pain and abandonment and shame at being such a failure. No one had understood her. So before she had taken that knife that had started to be her friend, her companion, the knife she had taken everywhere with her, hidden under pillows, in her clothing, in her bag, resting beside her notebook, before she could have hurt herself imparably, she had gone to the universities health center and made an appointment. In hindsight the diagnosis should have been obvious. Anxiety and depression. But at that time, lonely and hollow, it had come as a surprise. All this time she had been sure there was something utterly _wrong_ with her; wrongwrongwrong, as if there was this wall separating her from other people. 

Instead of working on herself she just let it be. The diagnosis was hanging over her head like the sword of Damocles, so instead of the knife she had always carried around with her, she had now a sword looming all over her, grazing her neck, everywhere she went. She had realized, in a particular moment, she was too afraid of change; that she _enjoyed_ her pain in some twisted sort of way, which she in return turned into physical harm by pulling her hair, nibbling on her nails, and scratching her skin raw until it bled. She was confined in this victim thinking and it was comfortable and it was all she had known all her life; she wouldn’t have known who she was if the pain left her. It took nearly three years after that first diagnosis before she looked for a psychologist to start with her treatment that was medication and therapy. 

Then the slow process of healing had started; a process of finding out who she was, never having found her identity, as she had always tried to live a life that was acceptable by her mother. However, outside of her mothers’ daughter she had never known who she was. She had been her mothers doll when she had been a little child in pretty dresses and ribbons in her hair, playing the piano and dancing ballet. But she wasn’t a puppet and life became stagnant. Her identity was a warped confusion of her childhood and her mothers’ expectations. _Who am I?_ , was a question she had asked herself nearly every day. It had taken years until she had found out who she was, hard mental and physical work until she came to a point where she didn’t want to end her existence. Years of therapy and medication and self-help books and podcasts by people who had no fucking clue about the world, but liked to pretend otherwise. It was liberating. _Because no one knew shit_. Most liked to pretend but in reality? They were all just children in the wheels of fate or life or whatever that decided on life; if something like fate even existed. And then, after years of hard labor and finally having a small group of friends she could trust, having something to work forwards to, when she was finally content with her life she… she had died. She was just… gone. Her life had ended; her death neither meaningful nor impactful to the environment that had surrounded her. Her death was just a small inconvience to the wheels that made the world run. She was gone from the world, her life just a speck of dust. Her soul started to wander the different planes of existence, just floating and feeling, but not knowing. Never knowing. Only feeling warmth and comfort, no body to call her own, just being. Just existing in the most content of ways. She could have stayed like this forever. Until this serenity ended and she woke up, but she couldn’t open her eyes, and then a frustrated wail left her tiny body, the body she now possessed feeling hot and cold and _weird_. Also, her tummy was empty and it was so loud, so incredibly loud, and then she felt her tiny tiny hands and tiny tiny fingers with even tinier nails, wet and bloody. Her skin felt sticky, her throat felt raw her skin clammy and there were voices and… oh. _Oh_.

Her name was Lorelei Gerrlamhach. And she was a newborn. An actual newborn. Although there were memories etched into her mind from her former life she couldn’t quite grasp them. Her brain was too underdeveloped to fully understand the meaning of this so she did the only thing she could whenever she felt overwhelmed - she cried. 

As days passed the situation wasn’t getting any better for her and there were many things that confused her. For one her size. Because this was all wrong. There were pictures and sounds in her mind, faces that told her she should be big, as big as the woman that fed her and the man that sometimes held her. It took several years until understanding fully came to her. It was a slow process and it didn’t come to her like some kind of epiphany. No, it was something that gradually got her attention the more time went by.

What also seemed to be the case was that she was deemed as intelligent, which was only because she wanted to _do_ things, because she was too impatient to wait until she was fully grown. She couldn‘t just wait, stuck in this little underdeveloped body, clumsy and weird and hard to control. Sometimes the woman (her mother) laughed at her, delighted at how cute her little daughter was. And the man (her father) smiled sometimes too when she tried to stand or when she started to learn how to read and write when she was around three or four years old. She also talked a lot, talked and talked, to learn everything as quickly as possible, and had tutors that taught her all that they could; who complimented her and her intelligence her parents shining with pride as she had been titled a genius. The feeling was… unfamiliar. This pride. Those happy faces. The love for their child. 

Lorelei realized, at some point, that she liked this life. Because her parents adored her, loved her with all the parental might parents were able to. And she had an older brother and older sister, who were funny and protective. In her old life she also had an older brother, however, he had never been like this one though. He was always nice and adored her and if someone made her cry, for example, he got angry on her behalf. Which didn’t happen often, as her mind was actually that of an adult, which meant she didn’t get angry often, only… her brain had to finish growing as well. It was weird, to say the least, experiencing these mixed feelings and thoughts of a child and an adult at the same time. Lorelei also started to _be_ Lorelei. She wasn’t that girl from her old life. It was like watching a movie, experiencing what the actor was going through when she remembered her old life. She even remembered her name when she finally realized what those memories meant. Everything she liked, everything she had done and experienced was saved in her mind like it was a computer processing data from a different hard disk. 

As time went on she also started to realize that something was strange. She was strange, she knew that, but this strangeness didn’t come from her as she had only ever focused on herself; which was why it always had deluded her. But then she started to realize more and more things. For example the crawling people. They had collars and were always on their knees, used and beat and spit on. It made her sick. That night, she crawled into the bed to her sister, lying that she had suffered a nightmare. In her previous life she had been a great liar. As it turned out they owned slaves. Not only her family, but other families too; their social standing an aristocratic one.

Apparently slaves were a normal occurrence in this world, but she never got used to it she just… tolerated it. Because what could a kid like her do? Soon she felt determination fill her heart with ease, determination to save those slaves, to abolish slavery in all its depravity. Yes, she wanted to do something against it because this was _wrong_ ; wrong on so many levels. It went against all the values she held near her heart, values she had kept from her previous life. No one should have to suffer like this, to be used as a slave. Nothing justified this. When she had asked her family during dinner once, her legs kicking and a smile plastered on her face, the chair too big for her childish body, they had laughed at her and told her _those are just slaves honey_ and _don’t worry about them_ and _do you want one for your next birthday?_

That last question nearly made her gag. She didn’t gag though and ate and did as if what they told her made sense as if it was completely normal to use human beings as livestock and playthings. She tried to distract herself by doing and learning the things she had enjoyed in her old life, which had been music and dance and art. Her mother in her old life had sent her to piano lessons and dance lessons and with time she had painted more and more until she had tried to make it in the big world of art. She didn’t make it. But it didn’t matter anymore. Now she was here, learning all those things she had always wanted to learn, her brain springing from being mature and adult to being childish and easily swayed. Her new family never understood why she wanted to learn those things, because _why?_ She didn’t need them. Her life was already perfect, they told her. She was a goddess among cockroaches. Not punching someone in the face was starting to turn into a task that was harder and harder to do with every passing day.

Lorelei wasn’t only interested in the arts though. Her determination to abolish slavery never diminished, and she started to user her age and small size to her advantage. She stayed with the adults at all times, listened in to their conversations, learned about the politics of this world, about the Navy and the Great Five and the Empty Throne. About the kingdoms and the dangers of pirates and the flourishing of slavery - and how important slavery was as a political tool. Somehow, her brain itched sometimes, as if trying to remember something, but she ignored it and simply played the part of a little girl, as all the adults underestimated her, simply because of her age. Mentions of a test made her ears perk up and wondering what it was about she asked her mother just a few days after her sixth birthday had been celebrated.

“Oh, it is a very important test, sweetie.”, her mother held her in her lap and softly stroked her fingers through her hair, “The test decides the future of the family, but also the future of the Great Five and the World Government. Only the best of the best are chosen and become selected as possible successors to the Great Five.”

She had blinked at her mother before lowering her gaze in thought. With her goal in mind of abolishing slavery it was obvious what her next course of action would be. Attending this test and being the best of the best. So she began to learn. History and economics, the different countries and trades between those countries. The Doerena Kingdom was the highest distributor for iron the Navy used for their weapons and ships, trading with other nations as well. Majiatsuka Kingdom was trading mainly with silk and fur, having some of the most beautiful animals. One of the animals nearly became extinct, a certain type of cat, but the country saved their trade by starting to breed these animals, leaving some in the wild, to keep the fauna and flora alive and in balance. Other countries were there as well, a type of stone the Navy used came from Wano, although it was strangely familiar for her. Why? She had no idea. Concentrating more on her studies she ignored the familiarity to learn as much as possible. Her diligence was not overseen, and soon she was considered a genius not only by her family, but her peers as well, teachers praising her intelligence and learning abilities.

Then the time of the test arrived. Obviously, she wasn’t the only one attending it. Although it was surprising that all children between six and nine years old were to attend. So, every family wanted to have a piece of the cake, so to speak, which meant every family wanted to have the chance of having an esteemed member of the Great Five in their family. They were tested on their intelligence through different quizzes. Questions included the history of the world, but also mathematics, literature and philosophy. Other topics were included as well, and it was obvious how hard the tests were to sort out children that were not fit to be a successor to one of the Great Five. It was surprising when their health was examined as well. Although, it did make sense in a way. It would be bad if one of the most important people was too sick. It would only burden the position one would hold; and it was simply out of the question to having someone holding such a powerful position who would be too sick to do anything. Most surprising were the question that had no right or wrong answers. Those were questions about ones morale, questions about their own personal beliefs. She nearly smirked when she read these questions, because she knew what it was all about. They wanted to know who would have the mental capacity to carry the burden of so much power. And Lorelei, with memories of her old life (of exams and tests and projects, of school and university and workshops) had no problems with any of the tests. Not even the ones that tested ones morale, because she knew what these people wanted to hear. Still, she tried to stay as close to her personal values as possible. And true, she had never been the best student in her old life, but her very own DNA had suffered from ADHD and _this body_ and _this brain did NOT_. Going through different schools and four different universities was an immense help on going through with the tests. It meant she already knew which learning style fit her best, already knew the basics of math for one, having gone through over ten years of schooling in her previous life. Her knowledge also meant she was able to read and understand words; children so young rarely understood some of the questions. She did. Because in her mind, she was already mature. Or at least as much as her still growing brain let her. So, it came with no surprise for her that she aced these tests and - surprising for others, not for her - as the one with the highest marks. Her family was so proud of her they presented her with so many gifts she was completely overwhelmed, her presents consisting of rare coloured diamonds and toys, dresses and…

“She’s already a little older, and she’s a very skilled beautician!”, her mother explained, the slave kneeling in front of them. But she wasn’t kneeling of her own volition. Her mother had struck her with her gloved hands, rings on each hand, and now a bruise was already forming on the slaves’ cheek. Lorelei was staring at her as her brain registered that she really had received a slave as a congratulatory gift.

“Oh, I am sure with her skills she’ll be able to make our darling Lorelei the most beautiful girl in Mary Geosei!”, her father proudly exclaimed and both her parents laughed and nodded in agreement. Lorelei was merely licking her lips and drawing her brows together in thought. Initally she hadn’t intended on ever owning a slave, but now? Well, she couldn’t say not to that, now would she? It would be strange and her behavior could draw the wrong kind of attention towards her. And she didn’t want that. Not when she wanted to change the whole system and abolish slavery.

“… what’s… what’s her name?”, she was finally able to ask, interrupting the joyful conversation between her parents.

“Oh, whatever you want to name her. She’s yours now! She’ll help you with your clothes and hair and you can ask her to do whatever you want. She’ll be your personal maid.”, her mother reassured her, however, Lorelei was everything but. She didn’t want a slave. But now she had one. Lickling her lips again she nodded and forced a smile. Her whole demeanor changed. She smiled brightly and happy, like a girl her age would when she was gifted with so many presents. No one would suspect there was a mature woman inside her mind: “Thank you, Mama, Papa! I’m really happy about the gifts!”

“Oh, you deserve them, honey.”, her mother said with a soft smile, but then her father added: “And you definitely earned them! You have the best marks, from all of the children that participated! We are so proud of you.” Her father leaned down and picked her up, his bearded cheek rubbing her own softly. It scratched and tickled and she couldn’t surpress the giggle at the affection her father showed her. Her family really loved her dearly.

The collar never left the slaves neck. It was an explosive one, too, the remote now hanging from her wrists, a small button that could end a beings life in a heart beat. She felt disgusted just wearing it, looking at it through the darkness of her room. She was already in bed, her slave gone. Sleep didn’t come easy to her and she knew she would see her the next morning, her duties beginning fully. She now had her personal maid who had to follow every wish, every single one of her whims. Pressing her lips together she opened the bracelet and put it away into the drawer of her bedsidetable. She would only wear it for show and she swore on her life, on her soul, she would never use it. She would never kill someone. It was a promise she intended to keep, and she didn’t make promises easily. And then she remembered her slave still didn’t have a name. How should she call for her name if there was no name to begin with? So the first question she asked the next days was the following: “What is your name?”

The bracelet was back on her wrist, the slave behind her brushing her hair tenderly as if she were afraid she would be beaten for being a little too rough, even though her expression stayed stoic, never showing any kind of emotion. But the moment she had asked for her name the hand holding the brush had stopped moving.

  
At first there had been no answer and seconds later the brushing began anew. No word was spoken between them after that. Not this morning, and not the morning after, or the morning in few days time, but everytime she asked the same question: “What is your name?” How should I call you? Who are you? Don’t you want to keep your identity? Slaves were usually stripped of every individuality and made into things the World Aristocrats enjoyed. With her question she allowed her slave to be who she wants to be, to be the person who she was before she had been sold as a plaything to the nobles.

Her slave was a quiet person with a stoic expression, never showing any kind of affection. Lorelei guessed it had to do with the abuse she had been put through, hiding any emotion to not feel anything, to numb the pain. But then, the slight surprising widening of her eyes when Lorelei gave her something to eat, and did so too on the evenings, showed her that there was more to her than the stoicism she showed on a daily basis. Her slave became her handmaiden, made her hair, and with beautiful long slender fingers she was able to style any kind of hairstyle as she had once been a beautician and barber. And Lorelei was most grateful, as someones looks had a huge impact on how a person was perceived. With her help she could manipulate people solely with her looks. She knew blue was a colour that encouraged trust and that red could allure and make curious.

Which was why, when the notice arrived that the Great Five wanted to see her, she decided on wearing a pale blue dress. 

Lorelei blinked at them. She was all pretty and dolled up and wore pink pretty shoes and ribbons in her hair and all she could think about was that they were **familiar**. Someone asked her a question. Lorelei kept on staring, unblinking now, directly into the faces of the five men that held all the power. Well, except for the one sitting on the empty thrown and _Huh, where did that come from?_

„Lorelei Gerrlamhach, daughter of Ludwig Gerrlamhach.“, one of them said and she finally reacted: „Huh?“

Some of them squinted their eyes at her, some of them were suspicious of this girl, because how could such a girl with such poor manners be one who had achieved some of the highest scores since the World Government had been build? 

A blush crept up her neck all to her cheeks and she felt hot embarrassment pumping blood through her veins, her heart squeezing in her chest, the same way she felt when she looked at the slaves, only without the need to punch the one torturing and killing the weaker. 

„I apologize, Elders.“, she curtseyed before them, shying her eyes away as it wasn’t proper to look into their eyes. She had done so for several seconds without fear. But _everyone_ feared the Five Elders. The oldest one was more than amused and hid a smile behind his beard. 

„Do not worry child. I believe it must be quite exciting being here.“

„It is, my Lord.“, she answered sweet and shy how she had been taught by her tutors all the right etiquette under the supervision of her mother, keeping up the act she, the role she was always playing in front of everyone. 

Then it was time for _the question_. No one knew what the question entailed or what the right answer was, but she knew her answer was something that would shape her future. So, Lorelei decided to ignore the niggling feeling in the back of her mind that something was hella weird and not right and just ridiculous. 

One of the Elders, the blond one (she had always been bad at remembering names) cleared his throat and then he asked: „Are you ready for your question, young lady?“

She rolled her shoulders and nodded, determined to give him a satisfactory answer. She hoped.

„What is your opinion on our Government?“

She opened her mouth, wanted to answer and no sound came out. That was… not what she had expected. Maybe something philosophical, but then, these men were no philosophers. They weren’t Plato or Aristotle or Diogenes. Those were old men that thought they were better than anyone else; men that held slaves and were cruel and who controlled the whole world. Whatever she would say in honesty would be the wrong answer. She knew that. So she closed her eyes and looked at them. She looked at them closely and thought of Obama, and Kurz, and Kim Jong Un and fucking Donald Trump, and saw all of them in these five men. 

„I am just a child. I don’t know.“, she answered, blinking, „I haven’t seen the world, I live in a place without pain or grief.“ _At least for me_ , she wanted to add but she didn’t and kept on: „I can eat how much I want, I have my parents and my brother and sister, and I wish it would stay like this forever.“ She smiled brightly as she said these words and clasped her hands in front of her, bobbing forth and back, from her toes to her heel: „I don’t know anything about governemnts and what a good or bad government is.“

She never said the world government was bad; but neither did she say it was good. The silence that had come with her words kept and stretched and stretched until it got uncomfortable so she stopped bobbing on her heels and kept her smile, although it fell a little as the nervousness started to rise. Was it the worng answer? Did she say something wrong? 

„What a diplomatic answer.“, the bald one looked at her thoughtfully and she kept her gaze, incredibly relieved they finally said something. Their gazes never wavered from he and she kept on looking into their eyes as well, from one person to the other, keeping her smile, just like she had done in her old life; sometimes, not always, doing so only when she had felt brave and strong. And at the moment? She felt braver and stronger than ever. This body had not gone through the things that she had gone through in her past life. Her brain was healthy, with no accidents, no trauma, only happiness and family and love. She never went out with her family to protect the happiness, which would crumble around her when she saw how her family was treating other people. Fucking slavery. She hated it.

Nothing else was said between her and the Five Elders as they only called for a servant to pick her up. An hour later she was back home and even if she had the talk behind her she still felt somewhat nervous. The nervousness didn’t leave her body for the rest of the night, neither was it gone when she woke up the next morning, her slave ready to help her with her hair and dress. When she sat in front of the boidour she fidgeted nervousl shaking her leg, nibbling on her nails and with whirling thoughts. She went through the conversation she had held with the Five Elders again and again in her head, trying to figure out what these men thought of her.

“…Tallis.”

The soft spoken voice of the woman behind her snapped her out of her musings and she looked into the mirror, a fingernail between her teeth: “Huh?”  
  


“My name. Tallis.”, the soft voice repeated and all Lorelei could do was stare at the woman behind her through the mirror. And then, she slowly registered what had been said. Her _gift_ had finally told her her name. Tallis.

Somehow the sudden change of mood and the new knowledge calmed her down. She finally knew her name and she couldn’t keep the genuine smile that formed on her lips: “Then nice to meet you, Tallis!”

The two female looked into each others eyes through their reflections in the mirror, one smiling, one expressionless. Lorelei really couldn’t read Tallis. The stoic expression still remained, but maybe, just maybe, she saw a kind of recognition in the older womans eyes. It was enough. She would make her believe in her even it if would take some time. Lorelei would also lie if she wouldn’t admit she didn’t do it only out from the kindness of her heart. She simply needed to have allies in this place she lived in. And Tallis would be the first person she would recruit as such an ally. She would be able to talk to other slaves, would be able to talk to them about things the World Nobles never talked about as to try to hold up their aristocratic reputation. Secrets the slaves in the barracks shared with each other. Those secrets could be helpful if she used them right.

“So, Tallis.”, she said when she was finally dressed, breakfast waiting downstairs for her, “I will never hurt you. Or hit you, or something.” She was smiling brightly but Tallis didn’t look like she believed her. No wonder. Previous owners probably had made the same promises as a tool of manipulation - alas she wasn’t most owners.

“…is that a promise, m’Lady?”, Tallis asked her without once wavering with her eyes, upholding her gaze, but it didn’t feel daring. No, the older simply seemed somewhat detatched.

“No.”, Lorelei laughed, “I never make promises! I was simply stating a fact.” With that she turned around to leave the room, never witnessing the slight widening of eyes.


	2. dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reviews and Kudos are love. Thank you for them <3

**unusualities**

**Chapter 02 - dance**

_“We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.”_ _―_ _Max Depree_

-

Her brain still hadn’t picked up on the strangeness of her family, her so called birthright, this world she had been born into, even if she had already lived this life for several years. Or maybe she had ignored it on purpose, not wanting to think about what it meant; what it could mean to her and her love for her family and the home she had learned to appreciate. So she never left her home, never left Mary Geoise, and never put on these ridiculous suits. (It really should have been obvious at this point in her life.)

A few weeks later a letter arrived at her home and her parents called her into one of the many rooms in their mansion. It was not just a letter though, but a letter by the Great Five, exclaiming that Lorelei Gerrlamhach was chosen is one of possible successors, one of many. It was a great honour receiving such a letter. It meant getting the best tutors, sitting with competitive children and ruthless families in classrooms and at dinners, fighting a war that had nothing to do with physical prowess or fists.

Arriving in one of the many rooms she sat down in her pretty dress and looked with growing curiousity at her smiling parents who had waited for her arrival. They looked incredible happy and pleased and she already guessed that it had to do with the results. Well, the end results anyway, the personal question by the Great Five a huge step into the right direction. 

„Honey, we are so proud of you.“, her mother started, even tearing up a little, her smile growing big and bigger until her father grinned wide too and couldn’t contain himself anymore: „You brought honor to this house, to our family! The Five Elders approve of you! And you are to be one of the children to ateightd lessons for a position as one of the Elders! A successor!“

She could have sworn her heart stopped beating. (Even if she had expected this outcome.)

„…what?“

„He’s right darling!“, her mother exclaimed, coming over to her, sitting down beside her and pulling her into a one sided hug, „There aren’t many children selected! Only the most intelligent are. Of course the decision is not yet made, as there is going to be another selection. There are still many candidates for each position, but I believe you’ll be able to make us proud! You are going to ace every test they throw at you, I’m sure of it.“

After that she fell into a daze and answered questions on autopilot, nodding and smiling when it was appropriate. She? As one of the five? Sure, she had planned it, but now it was starting to turn into a reality. In her previous life she had never achieved much, letting depression and anxiety control it so much that it came to a point she felt as if it was too late to change anything. Even if she had went to university again in her mid twenties. But she’s never been a genius, never considered herself as something special (but sometimes she had felt special, feeling a cockiness that contraditcted her anxiety), but now? Here? In this new life? Her parents looked at her as if she had plucked stars out of the night skies directly into their laps.

Her parents loved her, were proud of her, and showered her with affection, and she was sure they would still feel this way even if her test results would have been the complete opposite; this love and kindness from her own family something she had missed dearly in her old life. And now she got it from people that could be crueler than the family she had had in her precious life.

A few days later the lessons had started. She was sitting in a classroom with four other children, all of them being there to learn as much as possible. After she had been at a few of the classes it became clear to her it wasn’t only about learning and knowledge, but also about manipulating young minds. For once she was glad she was somewhat of an adult. However, she ateightded classes, and did what was expected of her, and closed off her heart to the suffering happening right under her nose. Soon, they would start their training as well. Having a strong body and a strong mind was of importance if one wanted to be a ruler of the world.

Lorelei remembered not being that strong in her old life. She had bruised easily, had had a weak constitution and that hadn’t changed. She still bruised easily, her pale skin turning green and blue from the smallest of bumps. The bruises stayed on her skin longer than with other children. She didn’t mind though. Pain made her feel alive and after a while she sought it out, fought with tooth and nail to experience the pain and all in all it made the experience _exhilirating_. She had always been a masochist, in her old life too, but she had never told this anyone, one secret she had kept close to her heart. Lorelei had been afraid of being judged and when pain wasn’t enough she started to spend money, bought pretty useless things she didn’t need as the experience gave her a statisfactory feeling if only for a short lived moment, making her forget the inner ache she felt all throughout her life. All of this only added to her agony, and when there was not enough money to spend she turned to physical harm again. She’d rather feel physical harm than emotional hurt. That hadn’t changed in this life, even if she was only a six year old girl. And she couldn’t turn it off either. Which is why she started to train on her own as well, dancing and little things and she knew she would never be the strongest in the room but she loved the physical exercises nonetheless. The burning feeling of building muscles, the aching chest puffing out one harsh breath after the other, her knuckles swollen. The pain made her feel alive. But her family pampered her and she was touched as if she was made of delicate glass. No tentryuubito had scars on his or her body. Scarred tissue couldn’t build with all the creams added to her skin and so it could stay smooth and elegant forever and she hated it. Because she wasn’t perfect even if she was pretty. Neither did she want to be. Perfectionism was boring, even though she had tried to achieve it nontheless. In her last life and in this life. No, she herself didn’t want to be perfect, but she wanted to make perfect **great** things. The pampering didn’t help, but at least she got stronger; and she wanted to become stronger and stronger and stronger. Not for herself either, because the pain she felt was all for herself already. (Or maybe it was for herself taking all the opportunities she could get because she had always been a little controlling and power hungry.) An her personality was based on selfishness as well.

As of now she wasn’t able to change a damn thing. Slavery should be abolished and she was glad her parents never brought the slaves home, the reason being that they didn’t want the filthy beasts to touch their precious home were their precious children lived – only a small amount of slaves was allowed, slaves that were special in her families eyes. On one hand it was a loving gesture, on the other hand Lorelei felt absolutly disgusted by they these people were being treated.

And then she couldn’t take it anymore, two years already gone by in the blink of an eye. She had never been a patient girl – not in her previous life, not now.

„I want to go outside!“, she told her parents one evening during dinner, eight years old and still considered a genius, at which her inner self only scoffed at. A genius mind, but not the strongest when it came to fighting and training. However, it was something to help gain better control over their bodies and self. Good that she had dance practice as well. No one was allowed to know what she was doing, the things she was planning to do once she was in power, in reality preparing herself for the future when she would leave this hellhole.

„Outside?“, her father looked surprised at her and she nodded, making her eyes big and round, looking pleadingly, her eyes blue like the ocean waves she had never seen in this life before. She missed the ocean. She had been to Tunesia and the Balcan Sea in her old life a few times, but had lived far away from it. She had always dreamt of living near the ocean when she was older. She died before she had had the opportunity.

„Are you sure, darling?“, her mother asked worriedly and again she nodded.

„I can go with her.“, her older brother Samuel told their parents and they looked at him, „I wanted to take a look either way. See if there was anything new to purchase.“ His grin was bright and happy, but there was something wrong with it too. It felt wrong, all wrong, and Lorelei felt wrong too, sitting here, living in this place, and her whole body was itching, she wanted to scratch it and scratch until she was bleeding, until there was no skin constricting her anymore, until she could finally breath, until she could be _free_ -

„Leelee?“

She looked up from her meal and blinked at her family, their scary grins gone, instead now worried eyes looking at her. She smiled: „W-what did you say, big brother?“

He smiled back at her: „Oh, just that we can go tomorrow if you want? Mama and Papa have nothing against it.“

“Should I go with you guys?”, Camilla asked them and ate the next bite of her meal as Sam shrugged: “Well, if you have the time…”

“Leelee you can spend your day with your siblings! Doesn’t that sound like fun?”, her mother looked at her expectionally and she giggled playfully, kicking her legs: “Yes! Like a lot of fun!” Her smile broadened and she felt excitement bubbling up inside her tummy. Sometimes she did fee like a child like in this moment and every moment she could act her age she whole heartidly enjoyed and locked it deep into her heart, keeping these happy memories like little treasures and warping them into something that made her family look better than they really were.

The next day came faster than anticipated and as it turned out going outside was done with a lot of preperation. She blinked at the suite the handmaidens and Tallis were putting on on her, with a helmet and white thick fabric and boots and she was confused and didn’t understand it; but she was the only one who had never went outside before too.

„I hate it.“, she complained to her big brother who laughed at her antics, a slave at his feet, kneeling and breathing hard, blood running down his temple. Or maybe it had already dried up. She wasn’t so sure. Tallis was dragging on behind them, her head bowed and there for whatever her mistress needed of her, the first slave in her family who was allowed inside their home.

„You’ll get used to it. We love you and don’t want you to breathe anything that was touched by filth.“, he explained to her while he held her hand protectivly and she wanted to argue, that No! This was dumb! And no! This was not how oxygen worked! Trees produced it, the whole process called photosynthesis and that it had nothing to do with humans, but had everything to do with Mother Nature and her plants. Lorelei kept her mouth shut and only grumbled at it. His hand holding hers felt warm through the fabric.

The trip was no fun. They went to an auction house, went to different enjoyable attractions, but none of this was fun, because she hated it, hated. **Hated. It.** The auction house was the worst thing she had ever experienced, slaves being sold like animals at a farmers market. Breathing was getting harder and harder, was so much harder in this stupid suit, moving around was hard too, when all she wanted to do was run around, see the world, meet people and _do stuff_. Not be… be seen like some kind of Goddess. Because she wasn’t one. She was human, just like her brother and sister, her parents, the whole lot of em, together with the Great Five. And w _hy the fuck did everything look so familiar?_

When she fell into bed that evening she couldn’t sleep at all, the faces of every single slave she had seen during the trip haunting her in her sleep. And then this _feeling_ that she missed something, something essential, that was so so incredible important. The nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she missed something got only worse the more time passed. She tried to find the answer, read more than ever, observed more than ever, and gathered information more than ever. She played her role of pretty little girl _princess_ **goddess** and did what she could, everything in her power, to what? Overthrow the government? Never. She was just some little girl. (At least at the moment.)

The realization of who she was, or rather what part of she was, and where she was, and what kind of world she lived in was two years after receiving the letter of possible succession later at one of the events where important figures were introduced; this particular event held for all the children who were deemed as possible successors, the children participating in such an event for the first time with other eightryuubitos. ( _That name; that fucking name, what did it mean? Where had she heard this before? In her previous life? Was she getting insane?_ )

It was a boring party, with a too tight dress and ribbons and flowers in her hair, held to entertain the rich, and she never really payed much ateighttion to faces and names (although she should begin now with that she ineightded to do in the future) but more to conversations and other things, people might deem unimportant. The dress she was wearing was a pretty pink dress, her hair long and curled beautifully, and her ocean eyes shining with childlike wonder whenever an adult talked to her. All of this was just show. She nodded, and smiled, and was cute and played the part. People only saw what they wanted to see. In that, humanity never changed, regardless which world.

And then the Navy finally arrived. At eight years old she still wasn’t tall enough and so she ducked herself under the people to reach the front. The Great Five held a speech she didn’t liseight to, introduced the men wearing white and blue, _white and blue_. White. And. Blue. And then she saw him and her world turned and turned and everything was silent, all she could hear was her breathing, her eyes wide and staring directly into a familiar figure that should not be familiar at all. Except he was. Because right there, in front of her, a few metres ahead, stood Monkey D. Garp, grandfather to the ASL brothers, hero of the marines, the one who had brought in the Pirate King in chains, and he was fucking here.

„ _Fuck._ “

The few that had heard her looked at her as if she had grown a second head, but then she looked up and smiled sweetly at the people surrounding her, and the nearby adults probably had overheard her. Because such a sweet girl, the Genius of the century, the pride of the Gerrlamhach family, would never use such profanity, would she?

After that she didn’t let him out of her sight. She watched him laugh, and eat, and joke around, and the other eightryuubitos making disgusted faces at him, but he _was_ a hero, and no one could change that. Not even the eightryuubitos. She had liked his character a lot in her previous life. She clenched her fists into her dress as she observed him from the sidelines as he stood there; nibbling on some of the rice crackers he liked so much. Lorelei knew that he was probably being observed by people that hid in the open, agents and spies all over the place. She had read and watched the whole series several times, some arcs more ofeight than not, had collected the Mangas, and figurines and small trinkets, and she had hated a few things that had happened, but she had loved certain characters with a fiery passion, more than others – and he had been one of them. Her wish to meet the heroes of her childhood, to meet all the fictional characters she adored had always been there but unrealistic of course, and now he was here, in the flesh, not drawn and painted in ink and computer programs, but real and made out of skin and bones and blood. She would be able to touch him if she just reached out. She kept on looking at him, always stayed close enough to observe him and she didn’t care if she was being obvious or not, because all the things finally made sense, the names, the slaves, the suits, everthing, and all she was left with was a sense of awe and shock.

It took her a while to gather the courage to walk up to him, so when she felt ready enough she took her first step. Then another and another one and slowly she approached him until she had finally reached him. And fuck. He was tall. So tall and huge, taller than any man she had ever met in both her lifes. Not one of the eightryuubito had ever talked to him, had ever approached him, disgusted by his manners and flamboyant nature. Loreleis admiration for him grew in its ineightsity.

„Excuse me?“, she asked shyly with pink cheeks and a racing heartbeat. The hero didn’t see her at first, looked around before he looked down at her and finally realized that it had been a little girl that had spoken to him. She saw when recognition flickered in his eyes. So he knew who she was. But how much did he know really? A few moments long he only gazed down at her and nothing betrayed his thoughts as he kept on chewing his last bite before shoving the crackers into the depths of his white suit. Then he cleared his throat and bent down to her a little so they were more at the same height; and she wouldn’t have to crane her neck so much: „Yes, young miss?“ He tried to be gentle, and she knew he usually was not a gentle person. Even his love was harsh and painful, and she giggled at the memories of his fists of love. Her giggle surprised him, his expression telling her as much and so she grinned.

„Would… Would you like to dance with me?“, she reached out with her hand so he could take it, her blush deepening upon the straightforward action. Which was not what anyone would have expected. A tryuubito daughter, a possible successor to the Elder Five, asking a marine for a dance; asking **the** hero for a dance. She was still waiting, reaching out her hand to him a little more, while her actions were not considered lady like or proper Lorelei didn’t really care about it. Or about etiquette. Also, she was a eightryuubito, someone of the people in this world who made the rules. She could do whatever the fuck she wanted. And she wanted to dance with Garp The Fist. So, YOLO.

It could be disastrous if he declined so of course he had to take her up on the offer. Still, he smiled down at her: „Of course.“

She didn’t know if his smile was genuine or not.

Few seconds later she found herself staring up at Garp the Fist, her small hand in his much larger one. She could feel the calloused skin of his fingers, her own ridiculously soft, never having done any kind of hard labour, expect for the training she was undergoing, but the callouses never staying due to the care of her she always went through, with cremes and oils to keep her skin smooth. At least in her old life she had taken care of her household, doing laundry and cooking, taking care of stuff when depression wasn’t hitting on her too hard which had made her skin a little rough.

They started to move to the tact of the music and it was a bit surprising to find out what a good dancer he was. However, Lorelei still felt nervous and could barely concentrate on the music. Her heart was beating so fast in her chest she was sure everyone in close proximity could hear it, but then again, other dancing couples avoided the two of them, many of the guests and ateightdees staring at this contradicting pair. It must have been a funny picture, a little girl, a small eightryuubito, dancing with a man this tall and huge and broad. She, soft and pretty and cute, and him, tall and broad and rough. His sun kissed skin was warm and there were a few scars she could feel on his fingers. They didn’t seem to be that noticeable, just small silvery lines on his darkened skin. She liked his hands and the warmth they emitted.

As the dance kept on her smile grew and she relaxed, his own smile reassuring and friendly - but she wished he would dance properly with her and not hold her as if she was a delicate doll ( _but she was in a way, wasn’t she?)._

The dance ended sooner than she would have liked and slowly she let go of his hand, her heart still fluttering like a hummingbird. She looked up at him with one last gulp before she stepped away from him, hiding her hands behind her back before suddenly remembering her manners and making a cutsey: “Thank you for the dance. I enjoyed it greatly.”

He laughed at that and scratched his chin: “It was a pleasure little lady.” His grin didn’t leave his face and she couldn’t stop looking up at him.

“I really admire you!”, she suddenly blurted out and for a moment he blinked surprised before barking out another laug: “Really? How surprising! Thank you.” Of course. No World Noble had ever thanked him in such a way, had ever approached him simply for a dance.

“Leelee!”, a voice called for her and she turned her head to look at her sister, who had probably been sent over by her parents, “Come, we want to introduce you to someone.” There was a smile on her sisters’ face but Lorelei knew the second she laid eyes on it how fake it was. Her family didn’t approve of her dance with Garp the Fist. He wasn’t like her. Touching her was a privilege and he had done so. And of course her family scolded her. She was bathed the second they were back home,Tallis washing all the filth from her hands while her mother watched and she protested and at some point even started crying which only worsened the situation and all the exictement was gone with the marines.

For the first few years of her life she might have felt free but on this day, after the ball, after the most exciting thing in both her lifes, she knew she was anything but. Mary Geoise was a cage, golden and beautiful and full of riches, but drenched in the blood of thousand lifes.

The next time she went to Sabaody she went alone. She was big and old enough and people were still looking at her with respect (no, it was fear, always fear in peoples eyes) and who would dare attack her? She still hated the suit and the helmet and she wanted to discard them but she wasn’t confident enough to do so. So she walked the path without a slave at her side, but with guards and some agents and she hated it. She wanted to be a civilian so bad. The more she thought about it the more she wanted to do it. Her family would definetely be against it; that she was sure of. But she went to classes to become one of the Great Five. Surely they would hear her out and if she was showing them good enough arguments they’d let her. New found determination made her act and she wrote a letter to the Five, asking for an audience. The answer came the next day, confirming her request with a time and place.

With Tallis’ help she made herself look as pretty as possible, as innocent as possible to be honest, but it didn’t matter how much she tried to prepare herself, the nervousness nearly ate her up as she went through the door to meet the five men that ruled over the world of one of her favourite shows. (Honestly, it still felt kind of unreal to her, because _One Piece_? Really? What the acutal fuck?) Not that she was complaining – not really. She adored this world, adored its characters only… she was reborn on the wrong side of things. She could have met the crew, she could have joined them in another life, or met the Whitebeard pirates or Shanks or whoever she liked and joined them on their adventures, but instead she was stuck in this golden cage.

„You wanted to speak to us, child?“, the oldest of the bunch asked her when it was time for her to meet up with them and she sat in the middle of the couch. She nodded, straightening up and licking her lips.

„I want to visit Sabaody. As a civilian.“, at first not one of them reacted. They just stared at her, looked at her as if they were seeing her for the first time. The blond one cleared his throat: „Why?“

„I will never be able to be a good Elder if I don’t learn the ways of this world.“, she told them confidently, „I want to learn as much as possible. I want to know what the people think about me – _us_.“

One of them opened his mouth to protest but the oldest raised his hand: „I see. Of course. You have our permission. However, you will need a guard.“

„An agent, hiding in the shadows should suffice.“, she told them her eyes blazing passion and telling them she wouldn’t budge on her decision. She wanted to go, and she would have loved to go alone, but she needed protection. A young girl like her could easily get unwanted attention from slavers. But the Elders only looked at her, surprised at the sudden authority in her voice.

“Are you sure?”, they asked again and she said: “Yes, I am sure.”

The decision was made and the conversation ended.

Before she knew it she was getting ready. She wasn’t putting on the suit (thank god!) and wore what any other civilian would wear. Simple jeans (halleluja!) and a T-Shirt, something comfortable were it would be easy to move around in (finally). She had forgotten how good it felt not having to wear constricting clothing. It was liberating, honestly. She felt giddy with excitement, the agent behind her. He would soon hide and let her wander alone, doing whatever she wanted while he kept to the shadows. She had enough money on her person too, a simple bag she wore on her back. She was so happy, laughing and smiling all the way down and then they finally arrived. Without waiting for the agent she took off.

Everything felt different like this.

The people weren’t scared of her and she was just a child enjoying her time, being ignored by the people, everyone just doing their own thing. She looked at all the attractions until her feet hurt, but she ignored any pain and just had her fun. There was nothing she was really looking for. Not this time.

After that first little adventure Lorelei went several times more, only ever playing the child the Great Five thought she was, thinking they could manipulate her in those lessons. But they couldn’t. She had already lived a life before this one, she was already ruined, her morals a set compass she was following through, her believes unchanging like the unpredictabilty of the ocean. There was nothing they could change. Her mind was already broken.

Then she started to discover the outskirts of the centre, seemingly growing bored of the main attractions she had started to visit. Going and looking directly for the place she wanted to visit would only make everyone around her suspicious. So she played the part of a curious child, going once a week, sometimes four times a week, until her family and the Elders and her so called friends got used to it. Then she went deeper into the outskirts of town, more into the darker parts of his city where she ignored any slavers and slaves. And even if they did try to harm her there was her protector watching silently from the shadows. It would only make her gag, too, looking more deeply into what the slavers were doing and make it harder for her to find her goal. And then she finally found it. A little unseeming bar, just standing in the shadows of the trees, bubbles flowing freely over her.

She didn’t go in the first time she found it. Neither did she the second or the third time she went there, going along as if she was on a walk. Until the desire was overwhelming and she couldn’t stop herself anymore, the stairs the last hurdle she had to overcome before she was at her goal.

Lorelei found herself standing in front of the door, her hand reaching out and feeling the cold metal of the door handle. She had to gulp down her nervousness, her heart hurting inside her chest in degrees she hadn’t felt in years. The door opened. She stepped inside. The door fell closed behind her.

Nothing happened. No one suspected her. Shakky just looked at her, smiling, a cigarette in between her lips: „Welcome to Shakkys Bar.“

„…hello.“, her voice came out as a squeek and the black haired woman amusement shone in through her eyes. When Lorelei still hadn’t moved an inch after a few minutes had passed Shakky asked her: „Don’t you want to sit down? Or are you maybe lost?“

Lorelei shook her head instantly: „I-I’m not lost!“ Quickly she gathered her bearings and sat down on a stool in front the bar, putting her bag beside her on an empty stool. „I… can I have some juice? Orange juice? Please?“

„Of course.“

No other word was muttered and the peaceful sound of a bar filled the air, glass clinking, liquid being poured, and the quiet clink of a glass being put down in front of her. Her fingers were shaking, Lorelei realized, when she reached out for the juice, knowing that this bar usually served alcohol the juice probably an ingredient of a recipe for a cocktail.

She had to use both her hands for the glass and then she took a sip, observing Shakky, who was observing her in return with a motherly smile. Loreleis eyes burned. She wanted to cry. She didn’t. Instead she put the glass back down and pulled out a journal. It was time to write down more of her previous life, and also whatever she knew of One Piece, writing down everything that came to her mind, too afraid of forgetting it. She wrote everything down in German too. The language they spoke in this world was not one she knew from her old world, not English or Japanese, but she had grown up bilingual, in Germany with a polish family, English joining her skills in her school years. If, in any case anyone got a hold of her journals no one would be able to read it, thus no one would be able to know the future and came in danger of changing it. She had stopped in the middle of the Wano arc when she had still read the manga and started to add the things that came to her mind. Not for the first time did she wonder where in the timeline she was.

Lorelei wrote silently, other patrons coming in and going out. When it was dark outside it was time to go. The ocean eyed girl gave Shakky a generous tip and left with a shy smile. A few days later she went again and the whole thing went down the exact same way; her shy and Shakky amused. It only took a few other visits until another person entered the stage. Her eyes nearly went wide when he came through the door, a smile on his lips. His silver hair a little unkept, the look of some kind of hobo all over him. So he lived here. But it still didn’t answere when she was. When she was living. _Where was she in the timeline?_

„Ah, welcome. Shakky already told me about a new regular.“, he smiled down at her and if he really was as strong as she knew, or even stronger than she suspected, than he probably knew about the agent lingering in the shadows. Who had no idea who lived here. At least Lorelei hoped so.

„Hello.“, she ducked her head and blushed, feeling more shy than ever, never feeling this way when she had stood before the Elders. She didn’t respect them. Never had. But Rayleigh? Oh, she had loved him. Too bad he had so little screen time.

A deep chuckle made her blush deepen: „And shy, just like I was told too.“

If it was even possible her blush grew darker in tone, her blood heating up her cheeks.

„I’m ususally not shy…“, she told him, not looking up, feeling intimidated by the mere presence of one of the characters she had liked a lot. Loved, really. There were so many characters to love. God, she felt like some huge ass nerd fan who met one of the people she had looked up to (which she was; she was totally a huge ass nerd).

„Oh?“

Now she looked up at him, one of his brows rising up and a smile on his still handsome face. She nodded, pushing out her lower lip to show him how serious she was.

„If you say so.“, he laughed and sat down while Shakky prepared some food. When it was put down in front of him he rubbed his hands happily: „Finally, some good food.“ It was surprising when another dish was placed down near her journal. Surprised by this gesture Lorelei looked up at Shakky.

„On the house.“, the barmaid winked at her and again her cheeks felt suspiciously hot.

„Tha-nk you.“, her voice nearly broke. These were the nicest people she had met since she had been born. Usually she was surrounded by greed and pain and blood and screams, and here it was deliciously quiet. Lorelei tried to keep the tears at bay and put her journal away, back into her bag, to not get any food on it. It was some meat with cooked rice, a really simple dish, home cooked and made with love, and when she tried it, it was the best food she had eaten over a decade.

Now she couldn’t stop the tears anymore.

„It’s so good.“, she sniffed and didn’t dare to look up, only felt their gazes before Shakky and Rayleigh looked at each other with a smile, before he reached out to her to ruffle her perfectly made hair. She had nothing against it. If he knew where she came from he said nothing. Instead they stayed quiet and enjoyed the peace she felt. She felt warm all over after she had finished, the warmth coming from her tummy and so incredible statisfied she could take a nap.

She wished she could live here. But she couldn’t. At some point she had to return. But for the moment she could just enjoy herself and so she licked her lips tasting the rice and meat on her tongue as she turned to Rayleigh.

„Say, have you ever gone out at sea? I mean… seen the world?“, of course she knew the answer to that, but she wanted to hear it from him, wanted to experience these stories and adventures all on her own. She wanted to break free, her hearts determination growing like a rose fighting through concrete.


	3. opposites

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mind can be conditioned from a very young age. But as you grow you can try change what you have been conditioned to believe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is one of those were I changed nearly... nothing. Only added Tallis and changed the main characters name :) and any mistakes I found.

**unusualities**

**Chapter 03 - opposites**

_“Caught between a strong mind and a fragile heart.” – M_ _ilena T. Kasparov_

_-_

Her first friend she ever made was Clarisse. All the other children who claimed they were friends were only so because they knew each other, not because of some deep sense of connection. Clarisse was, of course, a tenryuubito, just like her, but she wasn’t one of the supposed successors. They had met many times but only after Lorelei had turned eight, after the party where she had danced with Garp The Fist a few weeks ago. They were never alone, and every time they met they had guards and protectors or their families were with them. They had always been surrounded by other Celestial Dragons because having friends outside of this circle of World Aristocrats was a thing of impossibility.

Well, they had known each other since the first test for successors but the first real conversation they had that lasted longer than five minutes was when Lorelei had been on a walk, alone, in the gardens, the guards far away. At some point she had sat down in the grass, surrounded by beautiful rare flowers, bees buzzing around. Only tenryuubitos were allwed in these parts and it was one of the safest places to be. The sun was already getting dark and was slowly painting the world around her in warm colours of burning orange. In the past few months she had visited the little bar in the outskirts of Sabaody more than she could count. It was her safe place, her refugium, a place she felt more home than here, were her family lived at. With the years that had went by no one could fault her for loving her family, who was affectionate and more loving than the family in her past life, and she hated that she loved them, hated that they were so fucking doting with her, when they were monsters to people they deemed unworthy of their praise and attention.

Angrily she tried to wipe away any upcoming tears and instead concentrating on the lyrics in one of her journals she had written down; this one in the language of this world. It were lyrics from her old life, songs she remembered and had left and had sung when she was alone at home or had listened to when she had went out on walks. She remembered Lana del Rey and Hozier and Linkin Park and all the other musicians that had been a part in her old life as she had played the piano for many years.

Softly she started to sing.

_Happiness is a butterfly_

_Try to catch it like every night_

_It escapes from my hands into moonlight_

_Every day is a lullaby_

_I hum it to the moon like every nig-_

Her voice was carried softly by the wind that washed through the trees and flowers surrounding her but stopped suddenly when she heard a bumping sound, a squeak and someone crying out. Emberrassed that someone might have heard her she quickly got up and ran to the place only to see a girl sitting on the floor, rubbing her knee. As soon as her shadow covered the girl she looked up at her. And the stranger smiled.

“That was so pretty!”

Lorelei blinked at her before she sighed and stretched out her hand to help her up, ignoring the blush on her cheeks.

“Thank you.”, alright, she had to be honest, she did feel embarrassed and happy at the compliment.

“Do you take lessons?”, the curious question was asked with energy and she reminded her a little of Luffy, only with less energy and in female form and green eyes and blonde hair.

“I… do.”, blushing she looked away before clearing her throat, “I… take music and dance classes. And art classes. I… I really enjoy doing art… stuff.”

“That’s so amazing! Could you maybe sing again?”

Loreleis blush deepened.

And that was how she made her first real friend. (Shakky and Rayleigh weren’t her age, and more paternal figures in her life than friends.)

After that her life in Mary Geosai wasn’t as suffocating anymore. She never confided about her deepest thoughts to Clarisse, the secrets she held close to her heart and in her journals, however, there was no need for it either. It was enough to have someone she could have fun with, she could laugh with, cry with, whom she could tell secrets that were secrets only girls their age had. They snickered when the boys were boasting around, when they saw how they were boasting and got into fights. The bubble popped and reality pushed down hard on her when Clarisse, a slave and she were all in the same place at the same time.

“Ugh, disgusting fishmen!”, one of the boys kicked the weak shark-like figure, who had fallen down. The fishman was too weak to carry the boy around anymore, a boy who was just like herself, a possible successor to the Great Five. She and Clarisse had enjoyed a stroll through the gardens when they had seen them. Before Lorelei could say anything Clarisse was bouncing towards them, her voice reaching the boy in a mocking tone: “Oh no, is poor Fergus’ slave too weak to carry him anymore?”

There was a cruel snicker accompanying the girls’ voice and Lorelei shivered as she crossed her arms and came to a stand beside her slightly smaller friend. The boys face flushed an angry red and he went down from the saddle that was strapped to the huge fishman before kicking him in the face.

Beside her Clarisse started to laugh while all Lorelei could do was stand there and watch as a person was dying in front of her. He wasn’t breathing anymore either, not reacting to the kicks the young boy was afflickting on him and it only made her sick.

“Riss…”, softly she put her hand on her friends shoulder, “Why are you laughing?”

Clarisse seemed genuinely surprised at her question and she had to ignore the feeling of rage growing inside her heart.

“Why should I not laugh? I mean look at him! He’s so ugly and useless!”, again she started to laugh as Loreleis stomach truned to knots.

“But… why? There is nothing-.”

“But why _aren’t_ you laughing?”, she was interrupted by that question that was said so innocently it made her sick. Lorelei licked her sudden dry lips and looked away, down at the floor in front of her.

“I just… I… feel uncomfortable when I see someone bleeding.”, she whispered softly before looking back at Clarisse, “Would you laugh when I was bleeding? Would you laugh if it was me, lying there, being kicked and bleeding on the brink of death?”

Clarisses smile vanished and for a moment Lorelei really believed she had changed something in her friends mind, but instead of the smile Clarisse a laugh bubbled out of her throat, and she laughed so much that she held her tummy: “Hahaha! You are so funny, Lorelei! Why would you lie on the ground and bleed? You’re a tenryuubito! A Celestial Dragon! Nothing can touch or hurt us! Hahaha!” Clarisse nearly rolled on the ground, laughing so hard tears were streaming down her face, as if the mere thought of a tenryuubito bleeding was something ridiculous.

“…but we can bleed, too, don’t you see?”, Lorelei whispered not expecting anyone to hear her. Then she turned around: “I’ll see you later, Clarisse.”

Clarisses had only looked after her a little confused but still laughing before making even more fun of Fergus, who was so angry his face turned a violent red.

How Clarisse behaved was not something Lorelei had experienced until this moment. She was cruel and a monster and laughing at the pain the slave had to endure; a person who had possibly already been dead. As soon as she had been alone she had emptied the contents of her stomach.

It wasn’t the first time she cried herself to sleep. But this time there was a difference. Because there was Tallis and she had asked the older woman to stay by her side, to hug her or to hold her hand, whatever was acceptable for the slave as long as there was someone by her side. She was comforted by her and for the first time Lorelei was glad that her parents had bought her a slave. She really liked Tallis. And maybe, just maybe, Tallis liked her too. She never asked and slowly drifted off to sleep with thoughts to Clarisse in her mind.

 _But maybe_ , she thought to herself as her eyelids grew heavy and as Tallis gently stroked through her hair, _just_ _maybe I can change Clarisses mind; at least a little._

It could be the first step to the positive change this world so desperately needed. Children were the future after all. But adults paved the way for the future. (Even if she knew she was deluding herself.) Because with her knowledge of the future she could change things. Right? And she was a part of this world, no time traveler or something. She could _change_ things. And she had known that, had known from the moment she was born but it only became clear to her how _much_ she could truly change. The more she thought about it the more sense it made to her. And then she thought a little bit more about it. She had the power, everyone had to bow down to her will and she was a God-like creature in this world. Her word was law. Not even the marines could stop her if she wanted something. Then she thought even more about it, researched her journals, and after days of meeting up with Clarisse, dance and music practice and successor lessons, she came to the conclusion that she truly only wanted to change one thing. The execution of the pirate kings son. He had been her most favourite character; she had loved him so much and cried until her eyes were dry when she had watched him die. And never had she related to another person more. Their situations had been vastly different, however, the feeling of not wanting to exist, of thinking that a world without oneself would have been better off was the same. Depression was a mean motherfucker.

There was nothing she could do at the moment. She had to wait, get stronger and she would make it so that three brothers were reunited again, not because of some heroic reason, but because it was something that she herself needed. After all, wasn’t she a selfish person? Just like all the other Celestial Dragons?

Only, she had still no idea where in the timeline she was. She had started to read the newspaper since she had been able to read, but Marineford was still standing and Whitebeard was still alive. Concluding that the brothers were still alive, all three of them, and haven’t set out to sea. Well, she only had to wait for their bounty posters and the news. As she had no idea how long it would take she decided to train to the best of her abilites, to become one of the best successors the Great Five had ever seen. Like that she would have all the resources, all the power, and she would play the role so good, no one would question her. And she could help actively too. She could have slaves and treat them the way she wanted, give them a safe place they could feel at least a little bit free. It would not be easy but it could be a small start. And she could try to talk to Clarisse. For a while she had played with the idea of taking her with her when she was acting as a civilian but disregarded the idea quickly. Because Shakkys Bar was her safe space, her secret, it was something she held dear and didn’t want to share with anyone. Not even her friend.

Her determination set she decided to start by getting the slaves the tenryuubito wanted to throw away, the ones that held no value to them anymore. She was only eight, or soon as her birthday was a few days ahead, but old enough to make her own decision. Even the World Nobles had to respect her because she was directly under the Great Five, one of few possible successors who would take the throne in the future. Briefly she wondered if she would ever have the opportunity to meet Im. Only thinking about it made her heart race in fear and anticipation – and anger.

“Why are you not moving anymore?!”

Being free after a stressful day of lessons and dance practice she looked up. In front of her was one of the World Aristocrats. She didn’t remember his name, never really bothered with learning their names, and stopped in her tracks. He was surrounded by other slaves and there was one lying on the floor, and although Lorelei couldn’t see much she expected harsh breaths and blood and malnourishment on the slave. Lorelei clenched her fists. She was getting sick to her stomach and wanted to beat the shit out of this guy, this supid Celestial Dragon, who had no idea about the real world. If not for her memories from her previous life she would have become a completely different person, of that she was sure of, but she had her memories and had her morals and intended to follow those.

The World Aristocrat kicked and stepped on the slave and enough was enough.

“What’s going on?”, her voice was carried out with authority and she strode straight towards them, no fear, no anxiety that held her back (thank God for a new body which was healthy and not traumatized), crossing her arms when she arrived, ignoring that she should act more her age, the slaves making space for her; for a successor wearing white heels and a white dress and a white ribbon in her hair. (Always wearing white like some kind of uniform and she hated it, hated it with a passion, she earned for some color, for Shirts and Dresses and she wanted to wear whatever the fuck she wanted but couldn’t fall out of her role, itching for the next time she could visit Rayleigh and Shakky.)

“Oh! Lady Lorelei!”, the Celestial Dragon jumped and recognized her instantly, while all she could see was the ugly face of some dickhead. There was no need for knowing his name. Still, knowledge was power, and even if she didn’t want to remember a name she had too.

Eyebrows went up as she looked at the scene before her, her silence telling enough, that she still was waiting for an answer.

“Oh… oh yes!”, the tenryuubito stepped away from the slave and the others were making more space so that she could see more and her breath hitched when she could see that it was a female. And that the female was a mermaid. A young mermaid, her age probably.

“A mermaid. Why are you beating up a mermaid?”

“I just got her recently! But she’s so weak and won’t do whatever I tell her! I already tried everything, whipping, kicking, but she just won’t!” another kick, “LISTEN!”

Her knuckles turned white as she clenched her hands into fists, hiding them in her crossed arms.

“Oh, well… then I’ll buy her from you.”, she told the tenryuubito with a bored expression and relaxed her right fist to look at her perfectly manicured nails, giving off the whole persona of a bored person. Even if she was only eight, she walked with purpose, with every authority she possessed, head held high and acted every bit the aristocrat she was born as.

At her words the surrounding witnesses were looking at her shocked. But then the tenryuubito nodded: “A-Alright. But she’s really useless. You won’t be happy with her! She’d be better off dead!”

“So what? That’s, my business, right?”, she asked him in return and quickly he nodded his head: “Yes, of course!”

“Alright, then… send someone over for the payment. Oh and… I won’t pay the same price you payed for her, because you damaged her.”, she knew how much money her family had, how much all the families had. The amount of money someone possessed also said how much power they held. Not every tenryuubito was equal. She ranked higher than others and she completely made use of that fact. She would be stupid if she wouldn’t. Also, the look on the boys face was glorious and she had to keep in the laughter that she nearly wasn’t able to hold back. He probably thought she was just some stupid eight year old kid, too, which, jokes on him, she wasn’t. She was already somewhat of an adult and she was considered a genius and mature, and if he really thought he’d be able to get more money out of her for simply being a kid, well, then he was wrong.

Lorelei stepped towards the mermaid and looked down at the child. She looked a few years older than herself. Assessing the wounds that were inflicted on the poor girl she had no idea how bad the injuries were she had sustained. She was no doctor. With a deep breath she tried to keep it in, tried to not clench her hands into fists to beat someone up; she had to hold back, and turned to two of the guards, while Tallis waited by her side: “Carry her. I want to have her at home.”

The guards saluted and before anyone could react she was on her way, the guards carrying the injured mermaid behind her. Mermaids were beautiful creatures, and this one was as beautiful as she expected a mermaid to be. The sea green hair was framing the pale face, and rosy pink lips, the tail a beautiful blood red that was reflecting the sun light. She would be a true beauty once she’d be an adult.

At the mansion, that was home but stopped feeling like home a long time ago, the mermaid was brought to her room. She told them to lay her down on her bed and ignored the strange silence, because no tenryuubito had ever let a slave lie down on their bed. At least not for resting. There were certain slaves seen as playthings for sexual pleasure, but one, Lorelei was too young for this and second, she would never force a sexual encounter. She didn’t care if the other World Nobles thought of her as strange. Their opinions weren’t important, at least not to her.

When the guards were gone she called for a doctor. He rushed in because he probably thought that she had been injured during her practice, which happened once in a while, but it had never been too serious, and this time it wasn’t her who was injured. The doctor stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw the mermaid in chains on her bed.

“Lady Lorelei?”, the confusion was evident on his face and she had to snicker at his face.

“It’s fine.”, she went and sat down into one of the armchairs as Tallis silently stood right beside her, “Please look after her. I want my slaves to be healthy. And if you need an assistance you can use Tallis. She’s my slave.” With these words Tallis moved forward and she nearly never left her owners side. Tallis was her shadow, not really her slave, only so in name.

Lorelei didn’t intend to leave while the doctor was taking care of the mermaid so she got the book that had been lying around on the table in front of her. Then she leaned back on the comfortable reading lounge she had in her room and started to read. It took the man a few seconds before he started to look after her newly acquired mermaid, Tallis assisting him when he needed it.

“Tallis, give him the keys.”, she said and Tallis nodded.They keys were brought to the doctor and and she looked up from her book on this worlds history as he reached for the keys Tallis held out to him, “For the collar. Put it away. I won’t need it.”

“But… But my Lady, are you sure?”, his voice sounded unsure. She couldn’t hide her smile.

“Yes.”, she nodded, “I am sure.” She was only soon-to-be-nine but it didn’t mean that she was the same person she was in her previous life. There was no anxiety, no depression holding her captive, this body had been new and a fresh start, without scars, her brain like a new computer she could use and program on. The traumas had left her and she was healthy. She was still afraid of spiders though.

She went back to read and the quiet click of the collar told her he really was putting it off of the unconscious mermaid. Then she lost herself in the book, the doctor working quietly on the mermaid, checking for injuries while she sometimes looked up from the pages to observe how the doctor was working, Tallis hovering around him. The mermaid was still a young one, still small, but taller than the average human. Still a child.

At some point the doctor was finished, telling her all she needed to know and showing Tallis how to change bandages. There were no serious injuries and she was a little bit too thin, but not too much. She was dehydrated too, and Lorelei already promised herself to help the mermaid with the possibility to swim. It was when the mermaid started to groan and move that Lorelei put the book away and made her way to the bed were she sat down, the doctor long gone.

The mermaids eyes fluttered open and another grown left the soft pink lips of the beautiful creature.

“…where… am I? What… happened?”

“I bought you.”

Her words were enough to open the flood on mermories of what had happened to the mermaid. She had been bought a few days ago and she had been beaten and spat on, used and abused, was treated like garbage, not worth any kind of food or kindness. Tears gathered in the mermaids eyes and she blinked at the ceiling, the fins of the long tail twitching uncontrollably, Lorelei observing her.

“…are… are you going to hurt me?”, fists clenched the sheets below an injured body, tears being held back although it was no use, and desperately trying not to look at her new owner.

Lorelei shook her head slowly and answered trying to sound as soft and unthreatening as possible: “No. I won’t. I promise.”

After that the mermaid kept quiet, only whimpering. Lorelei observed her a few minutes before she decided to get up. She strode through the room and the mermaid stared at the door that had closed off behind her. Now that she was alone she could grieve the freedom she had lost, tears streaming down reddened cheeks and quiet sobs wrecking her body. The mermaid didn’t know how much time had passed until her new owner returned but behind her stood a tall woman with dark skin and she held a tablet filled with food and drinks. Sniffing she tried to wipe down the tears and snot.

“For you.”, Lorelei told her softly and Tallis put down the tablet on the bed, “You must be hungry and thirsty. I asked the cook to make something easy to digest. You probably didn’t eat anything these past few days. And water of course.”

The mermaid nearly started crying again and she was too hungry and too young to say no to this kindness, to naïve, still, to be suspicious of this meal. Not that Lorelei had any ulterior motives, because she had none. While the mermaid ate Lorelei walked away from the bed only to come back with a chair in which she sat down to observe the young mermaid. Tallis came to a standing behind her and then it was two females watching the mermaid. She looked younger than herself, maybe ten. Her family missed her probably and Lorelei wondered briefly how a young mermaid like her had been captured. Maybe she had run away from home and swam to the surface to quench the thirst for adventure and the curiosity for the surface world. Lorelei couldn’t fault her for that, if that was the reason. She wanted to leave her cage as well, wanted to explore and see and live freely under the sun and moon and stars. This world was so beautiful and seeing it like this, for herself, and not through a screen and some cartoonish style was an experience she wanted to make with her whole heart. And she would leave this place at some point. She just needed to be patient. The right time would come. She just had to wait for this one article. Then she would make her move, while silently, secretly preparing herself. Because she didn’t want to live here, stay here, and die her. It wasn’t her intention to become one of the Great Five when she was old enough and one of them had kicked the bucket.

The clinking sound of a plate being put down was what brought her out of her musings. The plate had been cleaned and there was no food or water left. The mermaid was licking her lips and Lorelei couldn’t keep the smile hidden when she saw how her appetite hadn’t been dimmed. Tallis had been a little difficult with her food at first.

“So… wanna tell me your name?”, hopefully she would get an answer, “My name is Lorelei.”

The surprised wonder in the young mermaids’ eyes was understandable. She knew about tenryuubitos, knew she was a slave, but had not expected one of the cruel World Nobles to be as nice as Lorelei was at the moment. The hesitation was completely natural. But for this child she could be patient, Lorelei supposed. (Even if technically, Lorelei was younger than the young mermaid before her.) Time strechted and stretched before the mermaid lowered her gaze onto her blood red tail and whispered her name.

“…Ri… Rillette. My name is… Rillette.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos, comments and bookmarks <3  
> I feel loved already


	4. burning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her world changes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated chapter, added characters and changed some paragraphs. Hope you like it <3

**unusualities**

**Chapter 04 - burning**

_“She wasn’t sad anymore, she was numb, and numb, she knew, was somehow worse.”_ _– Atticus_

_-_

Rillette was a sweetheart. She had a bright mind and she was cute and funny and she was something Lorelei had desperately needed in her life. At first she had to convince her parents to let her new slave stay (friend, she wanted to be friends with Rillette) and to give the mermaid space of her own filled with water. Mermaids needed it and Rillette was hardly able to serve her, the whole thing having no legs. Mermaids were only sought after as pretty art, something to look and wonder at. In the end her parents allowed an aquarium in her room. It was the best outcome there could have been and happiness was only part of the way she was feeling. First though Rillette had to heal as the bandages shouldn’t become wet. Because of this outcome she wasn’t able to stay at Shakkys’ Bar too long whenever she visisted and she hated to admit that she kept Rillette by her side because of selfish reasons; mainly because she felt less lonely with her by her side. Simply put she didn’t want to be alone in this hellhole. She needed someone to talk to about what she thought about slavery, all of the things she had tried to keep to herself. Needed someone to talk to about the love and hate she felt towards her family, not beign able to do so with stoic Tallis as she still kept to herself and never stayed the night.

There was her father Ludwig, who loved to laugh and drank his Gin on Friday evenings, her mother Henrietta who adored her children, and was the strict one but was always ready for a hug and loved her red wine cool and with steak, and her brother Samuel, who loved to flirt but adored his sister and would be there for her the second she asked him for something and Camilla who loved fashion and girly girl things and loved going out shopping with her mother and sister. Lorelei loved them more than she’d like to admit, but underneath their smiles there were beasts hidden, creatures of the highest order, sinful and arrogant beings that were motivated by greed. Writing about them and sharing her deepest thoughts and secrets with her journals and diaries helped but it wasn’t the same thing. True, she did have Clarisse and Tallis, too, but it wasn’t quite the same. Clarisse was someone who wholly accepted slavery as it was, who didn’t see the wrongness of it, and Tallis, quiet and stoic Tallis who never opened up and rarely spoke even if she stayed by her side when she needed someone. So she talked to Rillette, sweet and cute Rillette, who hadn’t lost her smile and her love for life, who trusted her to give her the freedom she needed however long it would take.

It was understandable that the young mermaid had been suspicious at first but the more days had passed the deeper a trust was formed between the two unlikely girls. And Lorelei had no plan of jeopardizing that fragile trust. However, whenever they were in company they had to fall into their supposed roles of master and slave. It was not something the young World Aristocrat enjoyed but it had to be done if she wanted to protect Rillette. The collar the mermaid was wearing around her neck was, however, useless. It wouldn’t explode. Because Lorelei had turned it off, just as she had done with Tallis. It was just for show, and they had to keep up appearances as much as she felt disgusted by it. It was a means to an end. A part of her knew she could make it so that Rillette could return, but it would be dangerous and slavers would openly hunt for the young mermaid if other people thought she had run away. Which Lorelei tried to avoid. At the same time she used her dance practice as some kind of training to be prepared and to be physically fit, practicing her dance even at home in her room when time allowed for it. Most of the tenryuubitos and people surrounding her thought it was some kind of hobby – which had started as one at first – but it was so much more than just an act of simple past time. She needed to be strong and fast and _deadly_. She wasn’t deluding herself though. She would never be as powerful as Luffy or Zoro or other characters, but she could damn well try to be the strongest self she could become. She also possessed no Haki, at least not one she was able to control; and not that she was aware of it. Maybe she could ask Rayleigh for help. And even if she had Haki at her disposal she was already concentrating on too many things and had no patience and time left for training Haki, even less so with only a simple chance of having it. Lorelei was in a constant state of hyperfocus, of being careful and there was already too much on her mind as it was. It would simply not be possible to start training her Haki as well, at least not at the moment. The Great Five would become suspicious - and she didn’t want to take that risk. Still, she kept Rayleigh in the back of her mind as a possible teacher in regards of Haki.

Her visits to Rayleigh and Shakky stayed frequent too; more than once a week, most of the time three times a week. Once the Great Five had asked her about the bar she frequented in (because of course the agents told them about it) she had played innocent; played the role of unknowing unassuming girl that just thought she had found an interesting place where she could have fun, where she could just sit around and write in her journals or sketch in her sketchbooks, while playing the part of a naïve successor they could shape into any form they wanted. (Which… ha! Jokes on them.)

In her previous life she had been an artist and she had been glad she still had her skills of painting and drawing she had practiced years in her old life for. Art and music turned into passions that were much more than just that. Because that was truly only for herself. She might do other things, decide on other selfish choices, but those were always revolving around saving the characters she had always wanted to see and protect in her previous life. In the bar she could just be, just live truly freely; all the while ignoring the invisible shackles binding her to the Empty Throne.

Over the years she also worked on her notes, put as much as possible down if there was information she had put down again and again in fear of not already having it written down. Better save than sorry. The longer she lived in this world the more she forgot about her other life – the faces of her family and people she had been relatively close to, the taste of her favourite candy or the smell of her favourite perfume. What she sometimes cursed was the non-existent internet. In some way it was good it hadn’t been invented (yet?) in this world, but at the same time it had negative influences, thanks to social media like facebook or instagram. But that was unimportant. The facts were clear and she couldn’t change them. There was no internet, books and the daily news were delivered via sea gull, and the fact that she was a tenryuubito were all unchangeable. There was no sense in worrying about things she couldn’t change.

Like this time went by and she befriended Rillette more and more. When she trained her dance or music Rillette was always there to listen to her sing or play an instrument when she practiced in private. Private tutors visited her in a learning room her parents had especially build for her were she could study and learn in silence, were she could hone her skills. True, her mind might have been that of an adult, but not so her body, having her memories but not the muscle memory of her past life. She had to build her muscles like any other child. Adults barely listened to her when she had something to say simply because of her age which could be quite frustrating but at some point she kept quiet. Adults not listening at her advice even if she had a solution to a problem they needed to solve. Well, their loss.

She fell in a sort of comfortable rhythm. Between Rillette and Clarisse, her practice in the arts and her lessons she never stopped visiting Rayleigh. Falling into this sort of routine felt good and peaceful even if she was worrying anxiously from to time about all the characters, wondering if she would ever meet them. But in all her anxiety and stress she had forgotten one of few events that had happened in the series.

Lorelei awoke confused at first, but when she gazed at the window it was weirdly bright, colours of yellow and orange, a look at the clock telling her it was still the middle of the night. She slowly rose from the bed before toddling over to the window and looking out.

“Oh god, what, what-“, she stumbled backwards, shocked at the flames licking right outside her window and a whimper escaping her and fear constricting her heart. Movements from the corner of her eyes made her look at the source and there was Rillette, waking up and rubbing her eyes. Quickly she stumbled towards the bed.

“Rillette! We have to leave! The house is on fire!”

And cute, beautiful Rillette looks at her with wide eyes and fear and impending doom, and she hates that look on her face. So she grabs her hand and pulls her onto her back, to carry her out of the place that would soon burn to the ground. But then she remembers her books and journals and she whimpers again before she puts down Rillette.

“Give me a moment!”, she tells her and hurries towards her little workplace, that was accommodating to her size, grabbing a back on the way. Every single notebook was put into the back, not one of them left behind before she hurries back to Rillette to gather her into her arms as the young mermaid looks at her: “Rory what… what is…I’m scared.” (She tries to ignore the screams, those different screams that do not come from slaves.)

“I’m gonna protect you.”, she swears with a whisper, strangely not feeling fear as stronlgy as she should, burying it deep inside her heart. The need to protect someone weaker was truly a scary power to have. She starts to understand the characters of this show a little better, before she leaves her room, sweating already, not only from the flames breaking into her room, but because of carrying so much. Her muscles burn under the strain but she ignores it, feeling the rush of adrenaline when something explodes beside her, making her nearly fall. Rillette whimpers and hides her face in her collarbone and Loreleis heart roars. So she won’t cry. Crying won’t help anyone in this situation, so she keeps on running, down the stairs, as fast as she can but flames are already licking everything around her and she can’t help but breath in the smoke, which also tears up her eyes. More and more fire is surrounding her in a much faster pace than she anticipated. But then she finally reaches the lower floor and she is nearly outside, hoping to be safe once she leaves the mansion. She has no idea where her parents are or where her brother is but there is screaming, so much screaming, and she doesn’t know if her mind is playing tricks on her or not, but some screams resemble her family, the family she had learned to love and hate at the same time, and she hopes they are safe, because no one deserves to die such a painful death.

Rillette caughs in her arms and she feels her legs nearly giving out on her, not having been dancing for long, her muscles still week. It had taken too much time gathering her journals, and now the fire was engulfing them and she feels the tears finally falling. (She doesn’t know if it’s because she’s afraid or if those are tears produced by the smoke.) She keeps on going, stumbles more than runs towards the doubledoors and when Lorelei finally reaches them she throws herself against them, together with her bag and the mermaid in her arms, and it takes a little, and her skin is probably going to bruise but she doesn’t care. Blood is rushing through her veins, adrenaline pumping and pumping and the pain is shoved more and more into the back of her mind. And then she’s finally outside. She could have laughed, but it isn’t over because the fire behind her roars as more oxygen is given to it; and the orange happily devours it.

Rillette is holding on to her with such a strong grip she feels her knuckles digging painfully into her skin. The mermaid had not said a word, her eyes closed hard, wrinkles on her little face. So she lets her legs carry her further and further until she thinks she’s remotely safe from the fire.

“Ah, shit.”, she hears a quiet yell and there is someone, hair shiny and reflecting the light of the flames. The woman seems distressed and her hair isn’t orange as she had first thought, but a bright pink, but Lorelei can’t see more because her vision is becoming more blurry by the second. The woman seems to fight with herself before she hisses another curse and hurries towards her: “You alright?”

“Y-Yes, but…”, she can’t say more as a coughing fit wrecks her body and another curse is heard. The woman suddenly grabs her and her back and her vision blacks out for a second. Then she doesn’t feel as hot suddenly, the flames now far away. Gently the stranger helps her into the grass and her bag is shoved beside her.

“Good luck.”, she hears and then the woman gets up and leaves, her pink hair reflecting the flames as she starts to run towards the flames.

She must have had passed out for a few seconds because when she’s awake again there is Rillette by her side, clutching her hand and crying.

“I’m fine.”, a weak smile is all she can do as weak as she feels and her voice coarse from the smoke. A crowd starts to gather around them. Tenryuubitos are yelling and screaming, some without a scratch and she can’t find her parents as she lets her gaze wander around them, but she doesn’t want to think about it, so she doesn’t. Carefully she takes a deep breath only to cough again. Her body feels light and is shaking and everything hurts, and the heat is a memory now but nothing she hasn’t felt in this life before. Sweat is sticking to her body and she feels uncomfortable, but there is a place and time to worry about those things and now is not such a time. For a moment she just lets herself breath. Only, she can’t. Because suddenly a tenryuubito is kicking Rillette and her hand is leaving hers and the scared mermaid looks even more terrified, cowering in front of an older man.

“It’s all your fault!”, he screams and at first Lorelei just stares. And she thinks that that man is going to hurt sweet, cute Rillette, who has done nothing wrong to deserve this, and how she had carried her and saved her and how she was proud she had been able to protect her, but now this men is threatening someone important to her even if they had only known each other for a few months. But then she remembers Rillette isn’t wearing her collar because she never wears it when they go to sleep and her thoughts are a jumbled mess, and her heart is constricting in her chest, thinking of her family (are they still alive? _Had been the screams theirs?_ ), blood being pumped and pumped and _pumped_ and she is an adult woman and not a child and she forgets this at this particular moment, not seeing the size difference between her and the adults, and she’s shaking so hard from anger and pain, her will to punish this guy so _much_ and she can’t stop herself and-

“LEAVE HER ALONE!”, her voice carries an authority she had never felt before and there is tension leaving her body she had never felt before, and at first she thinks the tenryuubito is going to turn around but instead he suddenly just collapses. But not only him, but those in close proximity to her as well.

Tears are sticking to her cheeks and somewhere near them something explodes, but there are more important things like her journals and innocent Rillette who had an expression on her face Lorelei couldn’t quite read.

Another explosion makes the earth shake with bursting energy as she stumbles towards her friend, her _sister_ , and then she reaches out for her and all she sees is Rillette, isn’t able to comprehend the passed out World Aristocrats around them, and she stumbles forward and nearly falls, her small body shaking with the strain it had been put under. But then… but then-! Everything around her explodes, or it feels like it, but there had been an explosion and tears fall and fall and keep on falling and somewhere her whole world had tilted and she can’t control her body anymore. She tries to raise her hand and when she touches her cheek it’s wet. As she looks at her fingers she wonders if the wetness from her cheeks is blood or tears. She isn’t sure, the fire dominating her home and the water from her tears might have as well looked like blood. There’s a buzzing noise in her head too and she tries to move and somehow she’s able too and she sees Rillette somehow protecting the bag. The mermaid knows how important the journals are to her and more tears spring to her eyes. She tries to breath but instead of much needed air all that happens is smoke filling her lungs again as the fire spreads and she starts to cough, her body being shaken violently by the coughs wrecking her weakened body. There is now a fire directly beside her, the trees and grass all around them falling victim to the gluttonious flames.

Lorelei slowly blinks and when her eyes are open again Rillette is beside her, her mouth open, screaming something as she crys, her tail bruised.

“-ra! Lorelei! Lorelei! Please, don’t die! Don’t die!”

“’m not dead…”, she’s able to mumble and Rillette gasps her voice raw. Quickly she helps her get up, but they can’t really leave because of Rillettes tail. Lorelei is too weak to carry them to safety and beside them one of the burning trees falls down, directly beside them, the heat making her skin uncomfortably itchy.

“I’m sorry, if I weren’t a mermaid-“, Rillette sobs and starts crying but all that Loreleita can do (or _will_ do) is smile to ease her friends mind even with tears (or blood?) staining her cheeks. The grass around them burns and burns and smoke is filling the air, so thick the stars and the moon are hidden beneath it. She tries to think of something, tries to think about an idea on how to safe Rillette and her journals and herself, and then another tree falls and another and another and they are surrounded by scortching heat. Rillette is clutching into her night dress, sobbing into the white silky fabric and making it wet and Lorelei should be afraid, but all she can feel is a peculiar kind of anger that she’s too weak, too small, too _anything_ to get to safety. ( _Fucking useless, a whisper whispers in her head_ ). Her throat and lips feel dry and her eye lids feel heavy and her body is shaking as the last bit of adrenaline leaves her body, her fists clenching the thin shirt Rillette is wearing.

 _Don’t fall asleep_ , she thinks to herself with slow blinks and tired shaky limbs, but at some point she must have drifted off again because suddenly there is a scream and there are people around them and one moment Rillette was in her arms and in the next moment she was gone, _just gone_ , **gone from her arms** , and Lorelei wants to scream but her throat feels raw and the last thing she sees of her friend is a red figure, a fishman, tall and muscular, and black haired, and she knows him, _knows him from the series (from her past life)_ but she feels so weak and somewhere in her mind she realizes that no, it’s not blood on her cheeks, but tears, hot, hotter then the hungry flames. Her mind is drifting away, further away until she realizes that she’s disassociating; which she only knows because she had done it often in her past life, and it’s as if she’s watching another person, another child, one arm reaching out for the small mermaid, sobbing and crying and lost, so utterly lost. It feels as if those things aren’t happening to her but to someone else. Those feelings don’t feel like her own. This body doesn’t feel like her own. This life doesn’t feel like her own. (Has this life ever been hers?)

 _Ah_ , she thinks as she watches herself, _This is me. I’m a child._

And then everything goes black and she knows before her head hits the grass that nothing will be the same anymore.

When she wakes up she lies in a comfortable bed, fresh silk and satin on her body and the bed, and she knows it’s not her room, because her room must have burned with the world around her.

As soon as Tallis realizes she’s awake nurses and doctors rush to her, because she is the Genius, a successor and so so important, and they can’t let her get any scars, even bruises, because of these facts. The medical staff doesn’t have to worry thought. Lorelei is completely healthy, expect her raw throat, but this too will heal. In the end there was nothing to worry about. She is showered with love when Clarisse visits and she grins and tells them she’s fine, yes, she’s alright and healthy, and how many times does she have to repeat herself? _She’s fine._

(She misses Rillette.)

Her families funeral is held one month after the events of Fisher Tigers attack on the World Government. Lorelei doesn’t cry just stares blankly at the beautiful tomb stones that had been erected in the Krypta of her ancestors and she wonders absentmindedly how money people had been buried in this place.

It is also the first time she wears black. She loves it. Black conceals, black devours and she can finally understand the appeal of the Devilfruit Blackbeard desperately searches for.

The funeral is beautiful and touching and many people are crying and sobbing, and now an eight year old girl is the only successor to the Gerrlamhach fortune. People she had never talked to before this day suddenly held an immense interest in her; her life, her future, her money. They all know the Great Five hold her under high regard and that they have high expections for her so they try to get on her good side. Lorelei doesn’t care much. She just let’s them talk and eats and drinks and ignores the hole in her heart, because she shouldn’t have loved this family, that she had been born into, shouldn’t have accepted their attention so easily, knowing had she been born someone else they would have treated her like dirt. They had been so evil to the slaves, it didn’t matter how affectionate they had been with each other, with her, right? _Right_? Right. Because they had been bad people. They had held no compassion for other people and would have killed anyone who would have gotten in their way. They had no qualms about throwing someone under the bus. Maybe their love had been fake or artificial? Or maybe not, but she still felt so… just so… infinitly guilty. For loving them. For hating them. For hating that she loved them. Her emotions were a chaotic mess of unshed tears and barely contained anger while all she could do was just let life go on. Yes, time went on and she lost all her feelings. She grew numb to snide remarks about her family and her inheritance. Lorelei hadn’t even realized how much time had passed. Has she been in bed for hours or for days? Maybe only for minutes? She didn’t know. At least Tallis had stayed behind, had never left her side since she had woken up. Why, she didn’t know. Tallis could have easily fled on the attack. Lorelei didn’t ask. Lorelei rarely spoke.

And then the Great Five called for her.

It was unusual but it happened. Lorelei Gerrlamhach wore black upon this meeting. The colour of mourning and passing and death. A sad colour for an eight your old child. She had never been afraid of death, had never feared it, and if someone in her previous life had died she had shrugged it off. She hadn’t loved them. Not the way she had loved the Gerrlamhach family – her father, her mother, her brother, her sister. She avoided saying or even thinking of their names, because otherwise she would lose this numbness she needed at the moment, and then she would bleed, her heart would bleed black and blue, blue tears and black rage.

Now she was standing here, a soon-to-be-nine year old girl, in black and with hollow empty eyes. She was blind to the looks the Great Five send her way before she greeted them automatically like she always did not sparring them any second thoughts. It was when all of them stood up from their positions that she realized that something was different than usual.

“Girl, we are going to introduce you to someone important. We expect you to show the utmost respect towards them.”, the youngest of the five told her, his eyes hard and cold, his suit fitting perfectly, but not hiding the muscles underneath the expensive fabric.

“Introduce me?”, she asked for the first time not thinking about her family but about something else, about meeting a person the Great Five respected. A person who was respected by the Great Five, the most important figures in this world. She knew there was something in her memories trying to breach forward but she was emotionally exhausted and the numbness was still there, lingering in the back of her mind, her feelings all locked tight in a chest deep in her heart.

“Follow us.”

She didn’t know who ordered her to follow but she did so regardless and wondering what had happened or why they were leading her away from the place they had always met, were every meeting had taken place. She followed deep and deeper into the building and every floor and every door looked the same to her. At first she expected to be lead to the Empty Throne, and then it clicked. The Empty Throne. Would she meet Im? Sudden nervousness filled her nerves and she licked her dry lips, suddenly feeling wide awake, too. She had no idea what to expect.

The short walk ended when the Five Elders stopped in front of an entrance to a garden. A spark of curiousity made her more aware of her surroundings and the light she had lost with her family returned in that moment. Because she would meet Im. Something she never would have guessed would happen. This person’s identity was a well kept secret and not many people knew of the king sitting on the Empty Throne.

The five men didn’t make a move.

“Go on.”, the gruff voice made her look up at the bearded man and his bald head showing signs of age spots, “We were ordered to stay back.”

That took her by surprise but nonetheless she nodded before taking a deep breath and passing the threshold to the closed of gardens. It was the most beautiful garden she had ever seen in her life. Flowers she thought had gone extinct were blooming in the warm light that shone from above. Butterflies and bees were taking care of them and the healthy green reached her knees when she made her way towards the crowned person in the middle of it. When she came to a halt they were still seprated by a few metres. Lorelei didn’t bow, didn’t lower her head or her gaze. Unblinking she looked into the face of the king of this world.

It was a woman. Blood red eyes were directed towards a tall flower that was taller then Lorelei herself. It was just as beautiful as all the other flowers. The kings’ crown was reaching higher than any crown Lorelei had ever seen on the heads of queens and kings that visited sometimes or had met with her family.

The woman wasn’t a beauty. Thin lips and purple hair, a long nose and long nails painted just as red as her lips and her eyes. She was draped in luxurious fabric and every movement made her shine. Somehow Lorelei thought she was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life. Lorelei scowled at these thoughts, realizing they weren’t her own but somehow pressed into her. As if it was a foreign will trying to impose into her, trying to make her forget her own being, her mind, and just falling prey to it. She didn’t like it, but knew instantly what this was.

“Haki.”, she murmured more fascinated than afraid, “Conquerours Haki.”

A smile spread on Ims face and then she finally looked at her, but not saying anything. She was just looking at the young child in black. The colour didn’t suit her, not really. The silence between them stretched and Lorelei kept her cool, tried to at least, fighting off the pressing foreign will trying to over throw her own thinking. She felt sick and violated and hated it. Anger bubbled inside her belly, the first emotion she had felt in a long while. Then she couldn’t take the silence anymore, ignoring the sword on Ims hip poking out of her robes.

“Why am I here?”

Not _who are you_ but _why am I here_. There was a difference in these two questions in this particular moment. Because Lorelei knew the way the Five Elders felt towards this strange being, respect laced with hidden fear. The smile on Ims face grew and showcased something feral that should invoke fear in her, but Loreleis numbness and growing anger were in the way of any fear she might have felt. She had already lost her family, and this person, this king, this woman in front of her was responibsle for so much pain, if only slavery hadn’t been a part of this world then Fisher Tiger never would have attacked Mary Geoise and then her family would have never died, their screams etched into her mind. Her eyes started to burn and tears gathered in the corner of her eyes.

“Hmm…”, the king of the Empty Throne hummed somewhat happily at the look the child was showing towards her, the stem of the tall flower in her fingers, before she touched it, grabbed it and ripped it in the middle. The flower fell to the flower and petals were stewn across them, separating them with an invisible wall.

“Something peculiar came to my ears.”, Im started, looking down at the green blood of the flowers stem on her fingers before looking back at the young girl, “I heard of a fire and a young girl and a mermaid and some of the Celestial Dragons suddenly falling unconscious when one tried to harm the mermaid.”

The reports never missed anything. Everything that happened on Mary Geoise was known to the being hidden behind the curtain of the five men who posed as the just rulers that they weren’t. Lorelei clenched her fists.

“And at first I thought it might be impossible. This type of Haki not everyone in this world is born with. But…”, blood red eyes looked directly into ocean ones, “I know when I feel it.” Her voice had dropped slightly and then slowly a hand was raised before the king pointed a finger at her: “And I felt it, that night, that moment, when you used it. You, my child, have Conquerors Haki.”

At the look in the kings’ face, the cold thin smile, the eyes red like blood, she shivered. She had never been more terrified of another person before.


	5. tears

**unusualities**

**Chapter 05**

**UNDER CONSTRUCTION**

Dear readers,

thank you so much for all the love I received. I will not abandon this piece of work but rather, I am going to change a few things, names, scenes and add a few things to give a better understanding of OCs personality and how the world works.

When a chapter has been corrected I will update the date.

I hope you stay tuned!

Love, 

CreativeTomato

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Without You" by Lana del Rey
> 
> Happy about any comment or kudo I recieve! <3


	6. strength

**unusualities**

**Chapter 06**

**UNDER CONSTRUCTION**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the love in form of comments and kudos and bookmarks.  
> I hope you enjoyed this!
> 
> I would love to know what you think about the big reveal that is Elira...


	7. steps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any comments make me incredibly happy, and I am so grateful for them!  
> I love reading what you think about my OCs and my chapters, even if I stay true to the characters of One Piece.
> 
> So, thank you! It's highly appreciated <3

**UNDER CONSTRUCTION**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song is called "I can fly" by Lana del Rey.


	8. Authors Note

**UNDER CONSTRUCTION**


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